Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
When it comes to setting fashion trends and appealing to people’s sensuality, Ed Young jr. has indeed become a household name. At times his gimmicks have been ambiguous and over the top but he gets away with it because… Well he has a mega church that likes what he does and they will fund him to display his pranks and gimmicks. Recently he seemed to have bitten off too much and thereafter like an impudent brat spoken out of turn leaving his own audience cringing. You see (reports one Ordinary Pastor)….
This morning I was inundated with a number of references to a sermon by a prominent Texas pastor. The fact that Ed Young says something controversial is not new. He has been in the news for bringing live animals up for his sermons and who could forget the whole 24-hour web chat from his bed, with his wife, atop his church building? Because of these types of stunts, I don’t pay much attention to what he is saying.
Today was different however. In the midst of a sermon he launched into a diatribe against Reformed Churches. His motto was that “Reformed Theology leads to Deformed Ecclesiology.” Can Reformed pastors afford to look in the mirror in light of the Scriptures? Yes. Absolutely. Do we have the corner market on the truth? Absolutely not.At the same time, what Young said was truly troubling. Concerning his rant, Justin Taylor tweeted, “(it was) A sad mixture of prideful boasting and sinful slander against fellow pastors and brothers.”
But this is not the primary reason why I was troubled. My biggest offense was with what he said about the work of the Holy Spirit:
Are they all bad? No they just don’t reach anybody. Last year at Fellowship Church we baptized 2,632 people. One of the fair-haired boys of this movement, I will not call his name, they baptized 26 people last year. (he then drops his hand-held mic on the floor and looks stunned). Oh, he’s deep. What are you smoking? Are you kidding me? I cannot put my head on the pillow at night knowing we baptized 26 people.
Without going too deep, the Bible seems to teach that conversion is directly tied to the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the same gracious, powerful, loving, God that brings 1 person to faith that brings 100 or 1,000 to faith.
I am not surprised any more (honestly) at what some of these celebrity pastors come up with. Especially from the guy with endless gimmicks who calls his flock “ferraris“, tells them that they should get a swagger and at the end of it all demands them to give him their bank direct debit details and routing numbers so that he can “joyfully” strip them of their tithes. But that is not all….
Sexperiment author and Fellowship Church pastor Ed Young, who is challenging married couples at his church to have sex for seven straight days, believes that sexual deprivation and not satisfying a spouse within the lovemaking department are sinful.
“I think one day we will be held accountable regarding how we satisfied our spouse’s sexually,” Young told The Christian Post in an interview Friday.
“I would, in fact, off of Romans 12:1 say that sex is even an act of worship because Romans 12 said we can present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is a reasonable act of worship.”
Young teaches in his new bestselling book, Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, that depriving a spouse of sexual intimacy is a sin. …Read More!
Well there’s never a quiet day in Evangelicalism. There are fads and there are fads. When Mark Driscoll unleashed a book (some say a Christian’s sex manual) many conservative Christians frowned. Should a pastor be opening his bed room doors and dealing with private issues in a public forum? Well even before Mark could begin his sermon series (on his book) some one else decided to go a little further. You see pastor Ed Young never does things quietly.
Ed and Lisa Young, founders of Texas-based Fellowship Church, will spend 24 hours in bed on the church roof next week and stream themselves live on the Internet to encourage married couples to see firsthand the power of a healthy sex life as prescribed in their new book, Sexperiment.
Two days after their book, Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, is released Tuesday, the Youngs will take part in a 24-hour “bed-in,” which will be streamed on the book’s website as they engage the audience on issues related to intimacy in marriage. …Read More!
What do you do when Summer is coming to an end and the cold breeze of Autumn begins to make your dwindling congregation hanker for more novel things to excite them into coming back to church? No don’t tell me you go back to teaching and preaching the bible. When you have a mega church there are is a show to run and you have to be pragmatic creative to keep the numbers up. There was a time when the church grew to maturity by relentless exposition of scripture and sound doctrine. No, not nowadays but you will puke at love the sound of this surely ….
Fellowship Church has announced that Rev Run, will appear live at the church’s Miami campus as part of a teaching series called Run to the House. Rev Run is best known as being a founding member of hip hop group Run DMC, and reality TV star of MTV’s “Run’s House.” Rev has helped break down walls and build bridges between races and cultures through music and fashion.
For Pastor Ed Young, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Church, bringing in Rev Run to share a message of strength, direction and wisdom at Fellowship Church seemed a perfect fit. Rev Run’s humorous outlook on life is something that appeals to everyone. …Read More!
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 